David Dragon - 12 New Paintings

Heroes. We all have them. People that we look up to and admire. They are not necessarily brave or honoured; others may even call some, ‘villain’. For our choice of heroes is not always easily explained. It’s personal. But having made my selection and committing them to paint, I felt that some explanation was due.When I first had the idea to make a record of people that I could happily name as hero, I began with a list. It was soon a very long list. I needed to cut it down if I was to leave time for other things in what remains of my future. Reviewing my options, I decided to narrow the choice to those who had lived in my lifetime and who had been born in the UK. That helped, but I had plucked a number from the air and it was 12. So, even more drastic editing was necessary.I could easily have exclusively filled all 12 places with musicians, or writers, or actors, or artists, or athletes, or the entire Southampton 1976 FA Cup winning team, plus manager. But with whomsoever I ended up, I knew that tomorrow, next week, or next year, the list could be entirely different. It’s not that I don’t still find new people to admire, I do, every day, but with advancing years this seldom extends to hero worship. I was lucky to have reached my age of enlightenment in the 60’s, when many new and exciting things were happening and happening at a pace. One only has to compare the creative output of The Beatles with some of today’s recording artists. They released 12 albums in 7 years. Oasis managed 10 albums in 15 years.